700 years of British tourism!
by KDLizzy
Summary: Trying to make a Portugal? To lazy to get the facts? Then look here and see all you need for this marvelous country! -I dare you to look.-


_**Hello everyone, I'm KDLizzy here with some stuff that might be useful to you.**_

_**Now like i had said in Dr Effing pot, i was going to make another one on a different character, i decided to do it on a country you can make an OC about. Hope this helps you develop a new and fun character~!  
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_**Disclaimer: I got these from sites on the web, so some might not be true. Please do some research of your own if you are not okay with using these facts.  
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Portugal is a European country, situated on the Iberian Peninsula. It stands bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west and south and by Spain, in the north and east. One of the most interesting aspects of the country is its diverse geography, comprising of mountains, arid plains, sub-tropical volcanic islands, lush-green meadows and picturesque beaches. In fact, it is this variety that serves as a pull for the tourists for coming and exploring Portugal. The warm hospitality, panoramic locales and rich historical legacy of the country only add to the appeal. Given below are some interesting facts about Portugal, which will help you in getting acquainted with the country

The official name of Portugal is the 'Republic of Portugal'.

Portugal is located in southwestern Europe and spreads over an area of approximately 92,391 sq official language of Portugal is Portuguese, while the official currency is Euro. Lisbon, the largest city in Portugal, is also the country's capital city.

Parliamentary democracy is followed in of the Portuguese are Roman Catholic, with a very small proportion making up Protestants and other.

Portugal became a member of the European Union in the year 1986.

The University of Coimbra, established in 1290, is one of the oldest universities in Europe.

During the Roman times, Portugal was called Luisitania.

Portugal was founded by Alfonso Henriques, in da Gama, the man who discovered the sea route to India, was Portuguese.

Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese explorer, was the first person to sail round the southern tip of Africa, which he named the Cape of Good Hope.

Pedro Alvarez Cabral, another Portuguese, discovered of Brazil.

Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer who was financed by Spain, was the first to complete a circumnavigation of the world, He set the record in the year 1522.

The people of Madeira were given a special right to sell wine to Britain and all his colonies, by Charles II.

It is illegal to kill a bull in Portuguese bullfighting.

The last king of Portugal, King Manuel II, was deposed in 1910 and spent his life in exile in Twickenham, on the outskirts of London.

Portugal was an ally of Britain in the First Word War.

The Kingdom of Portugal lasted from 1139 to 1910. The country has been a republic since 1910.

The oldest alliance in the world, still in force, is the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, signed in 1373. (Almost 700 years )

Parque Natural das Serras de Aire e Candeeiros and Parque Natural da Arrabida house well-preserved dinosaur tracks.

The modern Portuguese legal system has been influenced primarily by German law.

Abortion was legalized in Portugal, through a referendum, only in 2007.

The Vasco da Gama Bridge of Lisbon is the longest bridge in Europe.

Portugal set up the world's first commercial wave farm to produce electricity, in the year 2006.

Estoril Casino, situated on the outskirts of Lisbon, is the largest gambling outlet in Europe.

Time in Portugal is GMT and the country does adhere to daylight saving the same as the United Kingdom.

On 1 November 1755 (All Saints' Day), Lisbon was struck by an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale - one of the most powerful in European history. The city was razed to the ground by the earthquake, the subsequent tsunami and ensuing fires. Up to 90,000 of the 275,000 inhabitants were killed and 85% of the buildings were destroyed, including famous palaces and churches, the 70,000-volume royal library, as well as the royal archives, containing the detailed historical records of explorations by Vasco da Gama and other early navigators. The earthquake profoundly disrupted the country's political scene and 18th-century colonial ambitions. Lisbon being the capital of a devout Catholic country with a long history of evangelism in the colonies, the catastrophe caused much embarassment to the Catholic Church, which could not explain this manifestation of the anger of God - striking moreover on a Catholic holiday.

The national flower of Portugal is Lavender, though it is often mistakenly said to be the Carnation following the 1974 peaceful revolution nicknamed the Carnation Revolution.

Mainland Portugal is sub-divided into ten geographical regions: Minho, Douro Litoral, Tras-o-Montes, Douro Litoral, Beira Alta, Beira Litoral, Beira Baixa, Ribatejo, Estremadura, Alentejo and the Algarve.

Portugal has 21 rivers running within it's borders: Antua, Águeda, Alcoa, Arade, Caia, Coa River, Cávado, Douro, Guadiana, Limia, Minho, Mira, Mondego, Nabão, Rio Alto, Sado, Tagus, Tamega, Tua, Vouga and Zêzere.

In 2006 Portugal opened the world's largest Solar Energy plant, based in the Alentejo and Portugal also boasts the world's fire wave energy plant, which became producing energy in October of the same year.

Almost 12% of the inhabitants of Luxembourg and 3% of the people in France are of Portuguese net migration rate per ratio is 3.4 per 1,000 people.

Worldwide Portuguese is spoken by about 230 million people (of which 210 native speakers) and is the official language in nine countries - Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe.

Portuguese is the ninth most influential languages spoken in the world after English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, German and Japanese.

Portugal's national rugby team became the first all amateur team to qualify for the World Cup in 2007 since the beginning of the professional era.

At the end of the 1490s Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India.

Pedro Alvarez Cabral was the discoverer of Brazil.

The Portuguese slave trade was outlawed in 1850.

The name Portugal first appears in 868, during the Reconquista over the Muslims. A county was formed around the city of Porto, from which "Portugal" is derived.

Portugal was one of the earliest colonising nation of Europe, starting with Ceuta (1410), Madeira (1419), the Azores (1439), then establishing trading posts along the coast of Africa later in the 15th century.

In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India, and in 1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral, en route to India, discovered Brazil and claimed it for Portugal.

The Portuguese Empire would rule, among others, over Brazil, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, Goa, Daman, Diu, Kochi, Malacca, and Macau. Most of the African colonies were granted independence in 1975.

Macau, the last Portuguese colony, was handed over to China in 1999

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**I know, i know, but i'm portugues D: i had to put out info on my home land! (Even if i live in America.)  
****Thank you for taking the time to read this and i hope this helps you!**


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